Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Programming Notes

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We may soon have a new Bastiat Free Universitymaster's course. Richard Daughty is working with us to create a simple but powerful graduate level economics course for those that don't want to be economists. Richard is the creator of the famous Magumbo Guru, and is COO for Smith Consultant Group. (read some of his rants, see, learning can be a pleasure)

On another note is the time line for Bastiat Free University. You are the pioneers, entering the campus while construction is still in progress. Your comments will help us shape the final structure of BFU.

We plan to have 100 classes by years end. Next year we will work on improving both the quality of the classes and the appearance of the web site. We are currently ugly, but we will work on function before we work on pretty. Our plan is to have a clean and functional Renaissance university by Bastiat's 205th birthday, 29 June 2006.

The next level of courses, the 300 level, will deal with controversy in the subject matter and should be quite fun. The final 400 level classes will be both course work and action oriented; start a blog, go on a short term missions project, develop a BFU course, start a business, create something useful.

Remember this is self directed learning, if you want to take a 500 level course first, go for it. Study what you want to learn, discover knowledge and act on it. Only when learning is a pleasure will you pursue it to your maximum benefit. Mix and match our course work into a quilt that fits your goals.

You do not have to be a machine part graduate stamped out by a bureaucratic educational machine; suitable only for a specialized position in the receding industrial age. Prepare yourself for the network society and become part of the emerging Netcohort.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Disruptive technology and disruptive innovation are both well described in Wikopedia. Joseph Schumpeter presented a well developed economist's view of the same idea in the 1940s, he called it creative destruction .

Regardless of origin, the idea that new technology slowly overtakes and then passes entrenched methodologies, to everyone's benefit except the old tech, is a sound concept. A new disruptive technology is frequently just a niche play at first, but as it develops it is found to be an improvement of the prior designs.

"Don't let schooling interfere with your education."Mark Twain

Bastiat Free University employs a potentially Disruptive Technology. The Docebo open source learning system used at BFU fits many of the potentialities for disruption as outlined in Clayton Christiensen's books about disruptive technology. Your own Bastiat Free University hopes to become a Disruptive Innovation and inspire change within the traditional, inefficient, expensive, snobbish, and archaic government supported and regulated universities.

An even stronger disruptive education format is being developed for the Netcohort Institute; think peer to peer education, P2Pedu.

OK, back to the post.

BFU has an article that performs an ad hoc comparison of distance learning and brick and mortar schools. Currently B&M is ahead. This article does not mention disruptive technology, but the arguments raised support the concept.

Our working premise is that the bureaucratic age is ending. The rise of the information and miniaturization age is itself disruptive. Economies of scale are reversing. In the Industrial age large organizations and centralized decisions were efficient and pushed out smaller enterprises from all but niche markets. Today a new Netcohort is creating customer centric small and adaptive groups that are surgically appropriating the most profitable sectors from the industrial age dinosaurs. They do this using disruptive innovation to satisfy their customers.

The cost of centralized vertical management, in time and money, is causing the implosion of bloated bureaucracies. Organizations based on the economies of large size dwarfing the needs of the individual are falling as the individual finds personal satisfaction elsewhere. Disruptive information technologies will substantially reward the small efficient netcohort as they freely associate and collaborate based on reputation.

Bastiat Free University is participating in this individual centric disruptive innovation. The fact that archaic education will need to be replaced is already apparent. The current system stamps out machine part graduates to fit in industrial age social machines; just as the industrial age grinds to a halt.

BFU is not even noticed by B&M as of yet, and honestly may never be a threat. There will however be many such technologies launched. One of them will be effective at inspiring and training the reputable entrepreneurs needed.

The new network society needs a netcohort; disruptive innovators that will replace the vanishing middle class of the industrial age. Education needs to create independent, knowledgeable, action oriented graduates that enjoy learning. They will want to find pleasure in learning; as change accelerates learning will become an everyday, all life experience.

BFU offers Renaissance education, looking back to move forward. This new age is likely to be more like the Renaissance, individualistic and creative, than like the industrial age that has just past. Discover how to be a disruptive innovator by using Bastiat Free University's disruptive technology.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Bastiat Free University news

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First off our new disclaimer:

Free university,free church, free Speech: free is an indication of not being controlled by government. It is a nice coincidence you can also access all Bastiat free University materials and monitor all BFU classes for no-cost. Self directed learning is available to you, it is available today. Register now at no charge. Take advantage of all our no cost information. You can also register and work for a degree at a cost appropriate level (cheap). Develop your life's passion at Bastiat Free University.

This is a good lead in to our next notice:

The prices of our classes have gone down. If you are planning on a degree track, the cost per unit has dropped to $15.00 per unit; most classes are 3 units, therefore it is only $45.00 per class. If you have already signed up for courses, we will provide a refund of the difference in fees.

For more information about BFU, check out our new Bastiat Free University summary page. This is a short review on the Bastiat Free University philosophy.

For those of you that are webmasters, you probably are way ahead of us. You may want to look at our version of the 404 page, it is a pity to waste our dead links. Let us know how we can improve Bastiat University for our students.

I have thrown a link to the left, but if you have not looked at our C. F. Bastiat page, it is getting easier to read. The information is valuable, you just have to get past my design limitations.

Our twice weekly Chapel messages have gotten back to the basics. If you want some basic Christianity, drop in. If you want a different take on the design / evolution debate check out our Rector's opinion.

And finally, Doug Casey, a best selling author and inspiration for one of our graduate level courses, has re-released a classic article. This was written prior to the new millennium, and has been reasonably accurate. Doug speaks of the sweeping changes enveloping us, he does not give direct predictions. His work is more valuable in that he realizes limitations. He is frequently early, and often right, I have followed him for decades and find his work useful.

Both a bit early and often right are important if you wish to protect your future.

Sunday, September 04, 2005

the FOUNDATION for LAW AND WAR

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Today the Vice President announced a new private citizen initiative to be financed by federal funds, the FOUNDATION for LAW AND WAR. “We have found that anti-terrorism actions on just the public level are not sufficientlyencompassing. While the Patriot Act allows us to effectively watch everyone all the time, we lack the resources to review all material properly.”

Outlining the lack of overwhelming success the Vice Pres related “All of our arrests under the Patriot Act so far are for minor terrorism events, like jaywalking. We have however been able to require long jail sentences for jaywalkers due to the act , thus protecting all of our liberties.”

Detailing the obvious lack of statistically significant results the V.P. Pointed out that while we lead the world in the percentage of our population in prison, there are still more law breakers out there. “Less than half the people vote in most elections, the others are obviously scofflaws who threaten our cherished freedoms. These and other terrorists must be stopped.”

The Veep went on to detail the new program for the FOUNDATION for LAW AND WAR. “If we are to have perpetual peace we must commit to an eternal battle. We have done extensive analyzes and found all previous models of control were insufficientlyrigorous. We are quite sure the Soviet model failed for this reason, and the government fell to 'peaceful demonstration terrorists' because the KGB did not sufficiently limit operational variance available to non-government units. The USSR even allowed travel, if your papers were in order and you received prior permission.”

“We are aware that lawful citizens are unequipped to protect themselves while waiting for authorities to arrive, it must be so if lawful people are to be kept from the temptation of self defense. We are aware unlawful people by definition will break laws. With the extra analysis of recording review by citizens that have been volunteered by their neighbors; we will probably catch more of the unlawful after their acts are completed and we arrive to investigate. We are sure we will be able to catch more of the (formerly) lawful that tried to defend themselves rather than wait for us to review the crime scene. This will be the power of the FOUNDATION for LAW AND WAR (FLAW).”

“Your local government, working with the encompassing Federal FLAW, will achieve close to absolute safety for our citizens, through incarceration.”

The Vice Presidential address was greeted with thunderous applause by the selected and assembled news reporters.